STORY: Milestone Chinese summer box office earnings inject confidence, mirror quality advances
DATELINE: Aug. 27, 2023
LENGTH: 00:01:50
LOCATION: Beijing
CATEGORY: ECONOMY

SHOTLIST:
1. various of cinema
2. SOUNDBITE 1 (Chinese): ZHANG XIAOQIAN, Moviegoer
3. SOUNDBITE 2 (Chinese): WEI ERGE, Moviegoer
4. SOUNDBITE 3 (Chinese): HUANG JIEYU, Moviegoer
5. SOUNDBITE 4 (Chinese): LU SHAN, General manager of Poly International Cinema Shenyang K11 store

STORYLINE:

China has witnessed a movie frenzy this summer.

Official data show that China's box office revenue for the 2023 summer movie season had exceeded 20 billion yuan (about 2.78 billion U.S. dollars) as of 10 p.m. on Saturday, setting a new record.

China's summer movie season runs from the beginning of June to the end of August.

Domestic movies are more popular among moviegoers across the country.

The top five positions on China's 2023 summer box office chart are held exclusively by domestic productions.

The suspense thriller "Lost in the Stars" leads the chart, followed by the crime drama "No More Bets," the fantasy epic "Creation of the Gods I: Kingdom of Storms," the sports movie "Never Say Never," and the animated feature "Chang An."

SOUNDBITE 1 (Chinese): ZHANG XIAOQIAN, Moviegoer
"I prefer domestic movies, for example, 'Creation of the Gods I: Kingdom of Storms.' It's a classic work that we all know of, so it has something that we can connect with."

SOUNDBITE 2 (Chinese): WEI ERGE, Moviegoer
"I really love 'Creation of the Gods I: Kingdom of Storms.' I have watched it three times. I love its cast and production. I'm stunned."

Analysts attribute the strong performance of this year's summer movie period to the recovery of cultural consumption from the impact of the pandemic, a diversity of film genres and themes, and overall higher quality than previous years.

SOUNDBITE 3 (Chinese): HUANG JIEYU, Moviegoer
"I think domestic movies have become better and better, especially considering the subjects and the values they convey. They are very positive. I think Chinese domestic movies will have a bigger market in the future."

SOUNDBITE 4 (Chinese): LU SHAN, General manager of Poly International Cinema Shenyang K11 store
"The performance of this movie season is driving the recovery of the industry. I'm confident that the future of China's movie market will be better."

Xinhua News Agency correspondents reporting from Beijing.
(XHTV)